Birmingham’s Tory-Lib Dem council has become the latest in a string of public sector employers to interpret the so-called “need” to make cuts as an excuse to take a sledgehammer to their workers’ pay, terms and conditions, and indeed their jobs.

Around 80 of Pat Longman’s friends, family and comrades gathered in central London on Saturday 11 September to commemorate her life. Pat was a Trotskyist for 44 years, and a member of the AWL tendency for most of 39 years, until her death on 2 August from chronic liver disease.

The attendance and the speeches at the event reflected Pat’s life and spoke of a woman who was a committed revolutionary, for whom Marxism was far more than a passing teenage fad, and who was kind, compassionate and caring as a person.

In 1972, the Tory government told local councils to implement the “Housing Finance Act”, designed to claw in a bit of extra money by increasing council tenants’ rents. The context was in some ways similar to that of today — an aggressively pro-profit, anti-worker Tory government seeking to make working-class people pay for economic instability created by capitalism itself.

As resistance to the public service cuts grows, and the labour movement reconstitutes, it will have to relearn the lessons of the past. This is no easy task given that much of history of 20th century is written by the anti-working class forces that crushed and defeated our movement — on the one hand the bourgeoisie, on the other the Stalinists.

As Ruskin students and their contacts amongst former students became aware of the drive by people in the Workers’ Educational Association and University Extension movement to take control of Ruskin, they began to organise themselves against it.

During the “strike” that followed the enforced resignation of their principal Dennis Hird, a qualitative change occurred in their strategy, as a result of which 29 of the current students, again supported by former students, threw their energies into creating a new institution, the Central Labour College.

Cuba’s Stalinist government has said it will put 500,000 workers out of state employment next year. This interview with Sam Farber explains the background. Farber is the author of numerous articles and books about the country.

What’s the background to the announcement?

SF: I think it’s important to place this in the context of the Cuban regime being in decline, and that decline being accelerated because of the terrible economic situation.

Sports fan and sports coach Daniel Randall attempts to chart a socialist course through the polluted sea of jingoistic triumphalism and exploit-yourself trickery surrounding the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games...

With just under two years to go until London 2012, the fanfare’s surrounding the games is getting pretty deafening.

Phil Woolas, the former Labour immigration minister, faces accusations of trying to exploit anti-Muslim feeling in his successful campaign to retain the seat of Oldham East and Saddleworth. He won narrowly (103 votes) over Lib-Dem candidate Elwyn Watkins.

Woolas had alleged in election literature that Muslim extremists were backing Wakins against him. Woolas says: "My strategy was to mobilise mainstream Muslims and the white community against the extremists and to do that I had to highlight it to the white community.”